LSD Is the New Breakfast of Champions, Says Science

Share

Jeff Bridges as The Dude in "The Big Lebowski"

If done properly, LSD can give users—from musicians to physicians—”increased focus, emotional clarity, and creativity” while functioning normally with colleagues, friends, and partners. And there are studies to prove it, according to a recent piece by Alternet.

The story goes like this: Dr. James Fadiman, psychedelic researcher, psychologist, and co-founder of Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (known as Sofia University these days) starts his astonishing research well before LSD gets federally banned in 1966. Following that, however, Fadiman disappears from the public eye, though his fascination and interest never let up.

Flash forward a few decades.

In 2010, Fadiman published the closest thing to a guide book or manual to hallucinogens called The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide. The same year, he started a study on “microdosing,” the practice of taking extremely small doses of psychedelics, relying on volunteers who administered their own doses and provided him with the results. The participants kept logs and routines. Because the effects or “sub-perceptual,” the low dosage doesn’t give it away that, hey, you’re on serious drugs.

If you’re microdosing with other psychedelics, estimates are .2-.5 grams of dried mushrooms or 50-75 micrograms of mescaline.

“Microdosing turns out to be a totally different world,” Fadiman told attendees of the 5th annual Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference in 2011. “As someone said, the rocks don’t glow, even a little bit. But what many people are reporting is, at the end of the day, they say, ‘That was a really good day.’ You know, that kind of day when things kind of work. You’re doing a task you normally couldn’t stand for two hours, but you do it for three or four. You eat properly. Maybe you do one more set of reps. Just a good day. That seems to be what we’re discovering.”

Fadiman isn’t alone. James Oroc, author of Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad discussed the benefits for athletes specifically in his study, “Psychedelics and Extreme Sports.”

“Virtually all athletes who learn to use LSD at psycholytic [micro] dosages believe that the use of these compounds improves both their stamina and their abilities. According to the combined reports of 40 years of use by the extreme sports underground, LSD can increase your reflex time to lightning speed, improve your balance to the point of perfection, increase your concentration until you experience ‘tunnel vision,’ and make you impervious to weakness or pain. LSD’s effects in these regards amongst the extreme-sport community are in fact legendary, universal, and without dispute.”

So while too much of the drug can slingshot you right out of reality, it turns out a few small doses of it can keep you more grounded than you’ve ever been.